Number portability
procedures in Bulgaria
Yana Grozeva
Communications Regulation Commission
TAIEX Workshop
Barcelona 09 -10 June 2011
1
General Requirements
• Number portability (NP) to be offered by all operators
• Types of numbers subject to NP
- geographic
- non-geographic
- personal number services – 700
- premium rate services – 900
- free phone services - 800
- mobile (GSM/UMTS)
• Porting within the same type of numbers only
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Portability process in Bulgaria
• Portability launched as follows:
Mobile (MNP)
Geographic (FNP)
Non-geographic (NgNP)



April 2008
July 2009
August 2010
• Ported numbers until the end of January 2011:
139 377 ported mobile numbers
 1,3% of the total number of
subscribers
60 337 ported geographic numbers  2,5% of the total number of
subscribers
1 ported non-geographic number
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Ported mobile and geographic numbers
140 000
131 915
120 000
100 000
80 000
60 000
55 830
54 960
mobile
fixed
40 000
20 000
23 926
0
2008
9 558
2009
2010
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Legal framework

Electronic Communications Act – Art. 134

Functional specifications (FSs) - secondary legislative acts,
stipulating:
-
technical conditions for porting of the respective types of numbers;
the methods applicable to porting of numbers;
rules regarding data bases;
obligations of the donor and recipient operators and criteria to refuse
porting of numbers;
procedures for porting of the respective types of numbers, including
the time periods therein;
pricing rules and cost allocation.
-
-
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Other documents related to the NP process

Number portability procedures – common
agreements between the obliged operators

Respective sections of the General terms and
conditions of end user contracts

Interconnection agreements
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Start of MNP and FNP
Recipient
Operator
Subscriber
Request for
porting
Certificate
Web based
communication
Donor
Operator
Applied administrative procedure – two-stop shop
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Start of MNP and FNP (2)
• Applied routing method – ACQ or OR
All call query - Routing of a call directly from the originating
network to the correct terminating network
Onward routing - The network originally associated with the
called number identifies the correct terminating network and
routes the call onward to that network

Within its own network, each operator is free to use
the preferred call routing method
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Start of MNP and FNP (3)


Distributed database
Message exchange channels
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Start of MNP and FNP (4)
Timescale for porting. Porting window
• MNP
Porting procedure:
Portability window:
up to 10 working days
max. 7 hour
• FNP
Porting procedure:
- single number:
up to 15 working days
- group of numbers (e.g. DDI ranges): up to 25 working days
Portability window:
max. 8 hours
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Start of MNP and FNP (5)
• Each operator has to pay its own set-up costs.
• The donor operator may claim a wholesale charge from
the recipient operator for porting a number.
The wholesale charge for porting a single mobile
number amounted to 11 €, and for a single geographic
number – to 12,5 €.
• Conveyance prices are specified in the number
portability procedures - 1,5 €cents/min.
• Retail price – collected by the donor operator - 2,5 €.
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Start of MNP and FNP (6)
Restrictions on portability
The operators had to have numbers granted for use
within a geographic area code and to actively operate
within that area in order to be capable to participate
in the portability of geographic numbers for the
relevant code.
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Start of MNP and FNP (7)
Restrictions on portability (2)
Exclusion from the portability obligation of
geographic numbers served by analogue exchanges
and by digital exchanges, which are not adequately
equipped for supporting portability functions.
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Portability Evolution 2010
• Disadvantages of two-stop shop procedure:
Complex, slow and burdensome procedure for the end users
- Opportunities for win back
-
• Transition to one-stop shop procedure – August 2010
• The recipient operator is obliged to:
-
coordinate the administrative process for porting a number
act on behalf of the end user in the relations with the donor operator

The donor operator has to respond to a porting request, either
by accepting or rejecting it, within 2 working days at the latest
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Portability Evolution 2010 (2)
Timescale for porting. Porting window
• MNP
Porting procedure:
Portability window:
up to 7 working days
max. 7 hour
•
FNP
Porting procedure:
- single number:
- group of numbers:
Portability window:
•
NgNP
Porting procedure:
Portability window:
up to 7 working days
up to 10 working days
max. 8 hours
up to 10 working days
max. 7 hour
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Portability Evolution 2010 (3)

Reduction of the wholesale charges

Applicable wholesale charges:
- MNP: 9.2 €
- FNP: 9.2 € (discount of 20% applies for porting of a group of
at least 300 numbers)
- NgNP: 15 €

Fading away of retail charging
Although retail charges may be levied by the recipient operator,
under the one-stop shop procedure they have not become
common practice.
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Portability evolution 2010 (4)

Voiding the requirement for operators to have numbers
granted for use within a geographic area code in order to
be capable to participate in the portability of geographic
numbers for the relevant code.

Voiding the exclusions from the portability obligation –
the technical obstacles have been removed for porting of
geographic numbers, served by analogue exchanges and
by digital exchanges unequipped for supporting number
portability functions.
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Portability evolution 2010 (5)
Procedure for porting back of improperly ported out
numbers
-
-
-
Supplement to the number portability procedures;
Targeted result of the procedure – prompt porting back of numbers
which have been improperly ported out;
The procedure comprises the swift communication between the
donor and recipient operators and the user of the number;
Within a short term, relations are established to settle issues related
to numbers ported by mistake, at requests submitted by persons
without power of attorney, as well as to ported numbers for which
there exist irremediable grounds for refusal;
For the period of incorrect porting, the customer shall be exempt
from fees payable to the recipient provider.
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Specific issues
Automatic extension of the duration of contracts
concluded with end users
- One month prior to the expiry of a contract, the subscriber can
terminate it by notice;
- In case of unsubmitted notice, the contract is extended for
another period under the same terms and conditions. This
practice, although it is consistent with the legislation in force,
acts as impediment to number portability;
- Recently, it called forth the intervention of CRC and the sector
regulatory authority in the area of customer protection;
- Expedient legislative amendments are pending.
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Specific issues (2)
Information for a ported number
- The holder of a ported out number is obliged to inform his
own subscribers in case of a call to such a number;
- The information is provided immediately prior to
connecting the call in the form of an approved by CRC
distinct and uniform signal indicating that the called
number has been ported out;
- Aim of the obligation - ensuring appropriate tariff
transparency.
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Specific issues (2) - continued
Information for a ported number
The prior notification signal is not applied in NgNP
because of the specifics of the non-geographic
numbers.
21
Specific issues (3)
Resolution of disputes between operators related to
the terms of NP procedures
- In case of a dispute, CRC has powers to issue a
binding statement
- The binding statements of CRC were substantial for
creation of effective NP procedures
22
Specific issues (4)
Interconnection agreements with respect to
numbers for premium rate services of the 900
range
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Open issues

Negotiations between the operators for creating and
maintaining a centralized database

Attempt to establish а consortium between the
operators from all NP domains

Proposal for even distribution of the project costs
among the consortium partners
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Open issues (2)
Regulatory issues related to ported numbers in
the event the holder of the pertinent range of
numbers leaves the respective portability domain
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Lessons learned

Communication with the operators is of vital
importance

Selecting best regulatory practices related to the
number portability process

Ensuring the provision of accessible to the end users
information on the number portability procedures
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www.crc.bg
Thank you!
Yana Grozeva
[email protected]
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